270 OBSERVATIONS ON THE 



of the river onwards, as shewn hy the flatness of the channel and 

 creeping progress of the stream, indicated the forks to be still at some 

 distance, and the valley, before it breaks into a gorge, to have a vast 

 altitude, perhaps not under seventeen thousand feet. The nature of 

 the country at Lossur partakes of the general arid display. The moun- 

 tains are more continuous, and throw out their cliffs like a wall, where 

 neither snow nor soil can rest ; their tabular summits adding a new feature 

 to a scene of calm desolate grandeur. 



In August the crops were still green and the morning temperature 

 at 42°. The village occupies a slip of soil at the feet of the mountains, 

 and cultivation descends in a slope graduated for irrigation. The people 

 are even darker here than in the lower and warmer regions, and when the 

 ground is covered with snow the black figures moving into sight have a 

 very grotesque appearance, as they glide along the sheeted surface to 

 which they form so sad a contrast. Mankind here, like plants in other 

 climes, groupe together for mutual comfort and protection against the 

 pressure of the climate. Lofty as the level of Lossur is, there is little in 

 the landscape to betray its position when viewed in summer embosomed in 

 flourishing crops and herds of shawl-wool goats. Yaks and horses meet 

 the eye upon the high acclivities of the mountains, and an ardent sunshine 

 keeps the air loaming from the effect of mirage. The Sp'iti below in its 

 smooth sandy bason might even be recognised as a stream in the plains 

 of India. 



I had no opportunity of obtaining precise information about the 

 remainder of the river, much less of following it up ; but from the confor- 

 mation of the channel and glance along the stream, while I stood in its 

 bed, I have no doubt that it penetrates several days journey beyond 

 Lossur, and that it forms the base of direction to a pass into Rdpshu, 

 which by inferences from another, at a lower point of the valley, may be 



